In the wake of Friday night's stirring New York Knicks victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the question has to be asked: If the Knicks can actually win a championship, maybe the other great losers of sports can too.
A laughingstock for decades due to a string of confused executives who made one failed move after another, a maligned owner and a series of chokes, including one just last season, the Knicks got it done in decisive fashion, rallying repeatedly against the young Spurs, including twice on the road, capping one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history. After going down 2-1 to Atlanta in Round 1, the Knicks won 13 straight before dropping one to the Spurs, then won the final two games to clinch the NBA Finals. They went 16-3 overall.
The Knicks had been in the midst of one of the longest, most humiliating and seemingly hopeless championship droughts in all of sports. Sure, diehard fans always believed they'd break through one day, but most supporters simply expected a gut punch would come at some point.
That's how things remain for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs (no Cup wins since 1967), Arizona Cardinals/Buffalo Bills (Bills last won in 1965, before Super Bowl invented, Cardinals last were champions in 1947), Cleveland Guardians (last won in 1948), Sacramento Kings (1951), Detroit Lions (1957), Atlanta Hawks (1958), Cleveland Browns (1964) and others (like New York Jets fans, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Hawks, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers). And of course England's national soccer team, which is currently trying to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966.
If the Knicks can do it ... Maybe some of these teams can do the same?
Or maybe not. We've been down this road before. Like when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016, ending an epic 108-year drought. Or when the Boston Red Sox did it in 2004 after 86 years. Or the Chicago White Sox snapping an 88-year streak. Or when the Cavaliers ended a 52-year sporting drought for Cleveland. Hell, many Raptors fans never thought the one-time expansion franchise would ever win a title, but they did just that nine years to the day before the Knicks did the same.
Sports curses can be broken. The Knicks just provided the latest proof.
Script seems familiar: When No. 11, Mark Messier captained the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup in seven games over Vancouver back in 1994, it had been 54 years since the Rangers last lifted the Cup. When No. 11, Jalen Brunson captained the Knicks to the NBA title, it had been 53 years since the Knicks last won it all. There's some nice symmetry there.
Both franchises took advantage of massive errors by other clubs in landing their stars. Edmonton, facing financial issues, compounded its error of trading away Wayne Gretzky years before, by dealing Messier even though he'd just helped the Oilers make a conference final and two years prior had led them to another Stanley Cup. Messier, one of the great leaders in NHL history, immediately helped the Rangers compile the best regular season record and a couple seasons later they did that again before winning the title.
Brunson signed with the Knicks after the Dallas Mavericks made mistakes, some of them financial, in missing on the value of their former second round pick. Ironically the Mavericks would later bungle the Gretzky of this scenario, Luka Doncic, and lost both much like the Oilers once did with Messier and Gretzky.
Heck of a journey: New York missed the playoffs for seven straight years until returning in 2020-21. They were out again the next year before returning in 2022-23 and finally winning a round for the first time since 2013. They took steps forward under Tom Thibodeau, but climbed the mountain once he was fired and replaced by Mike Brown. They also won the NBA Cup, all while recovering from last year's epic collapse in Game 1 of the East final against Indiana when they had been expected to cruise into the NBA Finals.
This time the Knicks became the first team since 1971 to trail in each Finals game by at least 10 points and still win it all. The team also didn't face a single elimination game in the playoffs. Remarkable.
